Thursday, June 7, 2007

Playing to My Weaknesses

I'm working on an article that I submitted to a journal a while back, and that came back with a "revise and resubmit" verdict (the best I was hoping for, actually, so I'm pleased).

My big obstacle du jour is that one reviewer suggested breaking the article up into sections with individual headings. And I am total crap at coming up with titles. I have three subsections, all with unbearably old-fashioned and clunky headings. The third is the worst--it's the "synthetic" part of the article, where I draw together the primary subject, another set of texts I'm connecting it to, and then the overall "theme" (that's not the right word, but I don't want to waste time on this) of the article. I'm playing around with things like, "[Subject], [Set of Texts], and [Theme]." Yuck. Yuck! I hate this part.

I'm told that a revise and resubmit is a very good thing ---- that outright acceptances or accept with minor changes just basically don't happen, or happen once in a blue moon. So pat yourself on the back!

(yeah the titles thing? No clue how to help. Take one of those poetry magnet sets, shake it, and throw it in the air. Then pick out the first seven words you touch from the pile. That'll produce something better than what I come up with.)

After eight years--and tenure--at a 4/4 SLAC in the middle of the fields, I'm starting a 2/2 position at an East Coast R1 where I actually teach my specialty (medieval literature). I've got a young son pseudonymed Bonaventure, a husband called The Minister, and a knitting fixation. Email me at heumihi at yahoo dot com.